Step by step along the AlpsSwitzerland – Via Alpina

Step by step along the AlpsSwitzerland – Via Alpina

The Swiss connected their most impressive Alpine Passes into one hiking trail: The Via Alpina. This pathway crawls its way straight across the country and takes you past an astounding variety of panoramas, lakes, bare heights and mountain ridges. When you brave the full number, you’ve got 390 kilometres of adventure at your feet. When short of time, you can choose a single stage. We handpicked a few gems for you.

Hiking trail #1 is majestic: the Via Alpina connects Lake Geneva to Liechtenstein in 20 varying stages. Each one of them shows you a different Switzerland. You cross the then still narrow Rhine, climb steep mountain passes and walk through peaceful pastures. It takes you some time to walk this route because the almost 400 kilometres take you about three weeks. If you don’t have enough holidays for that, you can divide the Via Alpina over multiple holidays. Or you select a tempting stage and hike it as a day trip.

How can Via Alpina seduce you?

The video below gives you a taste of the route:

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After 12 km

Mels & Sevelen

The magical lowlands

It seems to be done on purpose: the first stage of the Via Alpina hardly knows any steep passages. You walk across the Rhine Plateau, the natural border between Liechtenstein and Switzerland. And then through the woods of Gretschins, past the ruins of Vaduz and the chapel of Vild. Because of the microclimate and the low altitude (500m), it is relatively warm here. That makes for a great habitat for particular animals, like the smooth snake – don’t worry, it is of the non-venomous kind.

The village of Mels grew to be the largest village of the canton, because of the iron mining in the Middle Ages. The village square and the streets that surround it are filled with historical buildings. You can buy provisions here before starting your first climb.

This is what stage 1 demands from you:

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Walking time80%80%

Rewarding60%60%

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After 220 km

This is what stage 11 demands from you:

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The Kleine Scheidegg

The rewarding mountain pass

The mountain pass between Grindelwald and Lauterbrunnen, the Kleine Scheidegg, is a feast. Because the higher you get, the more Grindelwald disappears into the valley and the view stretches over the various valleys. The hiking trail partly runs parallel to a narrow-gauge railroad, the Jungfraubahn, that has been bringing hikers and snow sports enthusiast to the top for 150 years. Whether you walk or take the train, a little below the 2000 metres, the trees give up, opening up to an amazing view of the three iconic Alps: the Eiger (3970m), de Mönch (4107m) and the Jungfrau (4158m). That way, this mountain pass is the most rewarding of all.

But from Kleine Scheidegg, at 2061 metres, you can get even closer. Via a steep track running on rack and pinion, the railway wagons climb up along and through the mountains. Moreover, there is an underground train station in the tunnel to the top, where the train stops for a view of the icicles of the Grindelwald-Fiescher glacier. Once at the final station, a panorama of the longest river of ice of Europe awaits: the 22-kilometre long Aletsch glacier.

Europe’s highest peaks and glaciers make Grindelwald to be the most photogenic place of the Jungfrau Region. Are you not looking forward to a climb to the top of these giants? A steep train takes you to the Kleine Scheidegg and, if you dare, even to the highest train station of the continent. The icy photo above was shot there.

Frits Meyst

Photographer Wideoyster

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After 255 km

Hohtürli (2778m)

The highest metres

The track over the 2778 metre high Hohtürli is majestic. The eternal icy plains and the mountain cabin at 2840 metres, the Blümlisalphütte, are unforgettable as well.
Here, no altitude is given away for free: no mountain train to take you to the top, and moreover, you climb over a moraine of gravel and rocks for kilometres.

Here, you won’t get any altitude for free.

Only in July, the hiking trail between Kandersteg and Kiental is completely free of snow, so this is a climb you only make during midsummer, when the mountain cabin is open. Before you spend the night there, with some luck, you will be treated to a spectacular sunset there, making you forget all the sweat it took to get to the cabin.

This is what the first part of stage 13 demands from you

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Rewarding95%95%

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After 265 km

The Oeschinensee

The most silent mountain lake

No hike in the Alps without a mountain lake. The Via Alpina winds around many, and even ends at the enormous Lake Geneva. However, this mountain lake at Kandersteg, the Oeschinensee, is a special water mass. Because almost where the icy river stops, so still at considerable hight, you find the opal water. A few waterfalls and streams come out in the water, that reaches depths up to 55 metres. No surprise this lake is part of a UNESCO world heritage region. You would expect the Oeschinensee to be on one of the easier stages of Via Alpina, but appearances can be deceiving. You walk past it while you cover the trail between two mountain passes that both rise above 2300 metres. See the Oschinensee as the silence before the storm.

This is what the second part of stage 13 demands from you:

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Walking time85%85%

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After 315 km

Around Gstaad

The ultimate Alps-feeling

Around Gstaad, there is an atmosphere of elegance. The Alpine village in a valley in the southwestern edge of Berner Oberland draws numerous international celebrities. Fashion labels have taken residence in the village’s chalets, but of course, you continue when you want to get some altitude in your legs. When you start the stage from Gstaad, visit the Molkerei on the main road early in the morning. There, you can rent a backpack with all necessities for a cheese fondue in the mountains: a mixture of nutty Gruyère cheese, full-fat mountain cheese and semi-soft cheese, as well as a caquelon, fondue forks and bread. Find a spot along the Torneresse stream or a little further on in the valley, with views of L’Etivaz, a village known for her cheeses. In 2000, their hard cheese, that is now being made in 13 different mountain cabins, was the first Swiss cheese to receive a quality label, a so-called appellation d’origine controlee (AOC).

Rent a backpack with all necessities for a cheese fondue in the mountains

Once in Gstaad, you cannot go around the 2000 metres in altitude. The last stages are to ease your breath, to keep halt here and there. For example at the views of Lake Geneva, visible when you are on top of Rochers de Naye (1974m). You really got the hang of it now? Good! The Via Alpina actually continues her road far past Lake Geneva. When you continue following the signs, you walk via Italy and France all the way to Monaco. Send us a postcard!

This is what stage 17 demands from you:

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Practical information about the Via Alpina

Leave your hiking map at home, the (free) SwitzerlandMobility app is filled with maps routes and locations of bus stops and accommodation.